Washington Monument

Federal Hall National Memorial

Third (Current) Location

Second Location

First Location

African Burial Ground National Monument

Bunker Hill Grounds

Castle Clinton National Monument 

Trinity Church and Graveyard

DAR Constitutional Hall

Santa Monica Park

Fraunces Tavern

A living history portrayal of Marquis de Lafayette, Major General, Continental Army

Federal Hall

Naturalization Ceremony at Federal Hall

Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

An individual delivering a dramatic interpretation of Marquis de Lafayette’s speech in period military attire at Federal Hall on July 3, 2025

Speaking at the Naturalization Ceremony at Federal Hall, July 3, 2025

Arthur Platt presents the Lower Harbor segment of the tour, beginning with Ellis Island and ending with One Madison Park.

 Historian Barry Moreno explains Ellis Island's history as an immigration station and eventually a deportation center. He speaks in detail about the immigrants' experience within the building as they were processed through the center, in addition to speaking about how United States immigration laws shaped Ellis Island's role as an immigration station. 

Architectural historian Gail Cornell talks about the history of Foley Square and the African Burial Ground.

 Historian Barry Moreno discusses Castle Clinton's varied history, from its years as an immigration station to its decades as a performance space. He describes its brief career as an aquarium, and its near destruction to make room for the Battery Tunnel. 

 Jean Parker Phifer, NYC architect and author of Public Art New York, reads a selection on the Statue of Liberty, located on Liberty Island in NY Harbor. 

Historian Barry Moreno details the history of Lady Liberty, from her construction in France to her thousands of tours daily.

Peter C. Hein, &nbsp;Past President, Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York, speaking at ‘It Happened Here - 1700’s Symposium: The Path to Liberty’ on July 4, 2025

Speaker Hon. Laura Taylor Swain, Chief Judge, United States District Court, Southern District of New York

On Lenox Ave, between 125th Street and 124th Street, is the legendary Lenox Lounge. Another cultural institution nearby is the Hip Hop Cultural Center.

The end of the HarlemNOW walking tour of 125th Street.

Welcome to the HarlemNOW walking tour of historic 125th Street. This tour will visit various places of cultural and historical significance located on 125th Street.


Abby Suckle presents the Lower East River segment of the tour, beginning with Waterside and the Empire State Building and ending with Carl Schurz Park

At 258 Street Nicholas Avenue is the newest addition to Harlem's cultural scene, the Dwyer Cultural Center. James McCullar discusses this facility, which opened in June 2008, as the City's first cultural center dedicated exclusively to the culture, traditions, and history of Harlem.

 Across the street is the site of the former Blumstein's Department Store at 230 West 125th Street. Designed by architects Charles Kohn and Charles Butler in 1923, it was an amalgam of late Art Nouveau and Early Art Deco styles. In its day, it was one of the most elegant department stores uptown. 

On the corner of 125th Street and Fifth Avenue is the National Black Theater. Founded in 1968, the NBT is a non-profit organization and center for research and development. Also known as the National Black Theatre Workshop, it now promotes African Americans in the arts. It also houses a large collection of art. 

On the next block on the North side of the street is the famous Apollo Theater. First opened in 1914, it was originally known as The Hertig and Seaman New Burlesque Theater. It took nearly twenty years for it to open its doors to African-American patrons for the first time on Friday, January 26, 1934. Amateur Night began that year, and one of its first performers was a young Billie Holiday.

A few doors east of the Apollo Theater stands another grand vaudeville house, the former Loew's Victoria Theater. Designed in 1917 by Thomas W. Lamb, it had nearly 2,394 seats and an organ costing almost $250,000 to build at the time. In 1987 it was converted into a multi-screen movie complex before being shuttered in 1989. There have been several proposals for redevelopment for the building, most notably in 2005. 

If you walk towards the river, you can see the Cotton Club on your right at 656 West 125th Street. The site you see, though, is not the original which occupied such a unique cultural place in Harlem during Prohibition. The Club first stood at 142nd Street, then moved to 48th Street in Midtown, before being reincarnated on 125th Street a few years ago.

On Seventh Avenue, between 125th Street and 124th Street stands the Hotel Theresa, designed by George and Edward Blum in 1913. Once Harlem's most prestigious hotel, the "Waldorf of Harlem" hosted celebrities and world dignitaries, including Cuban President Fidel Castro. It also contained the offices of A. Phillip Randolph's March on Washington Movement (MOWM) and Malcolm X's Organization of Afto-American Unity. Now an office building and rechristened the Teresa Towers, the site was designated a city landmark in 1993. 

Across the street is the Harlem State Office Building. This is where President Clinton has his office and also where the Clinton Foundation is housed. In front is a memorial to Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., sculpted by Branly Cadet in 2005.


Across the street is The Studio Museum of Harlem. The Museum features the work of African-American artists and works that have inspired and influenced Black culture. It offers a wide range of public programs as well as an artist-in-residence program. Architecturally, the museum was renovated several years ago by Rogers Marvel Architects. It was one of the first cultural works they did in New York City.

A talk by Abby Suckle at Fraunces Tavern Museum, New York on July 4, 2024

Every American President passed through New York City. Some were born here such as Theodore Roosevelt. Some lived here including Herbert Hoover who spent his post Presidential years residing in the Presidential Suite at the Waldorf Astoria. Some were married here. In 1844, for instance, John Tyler wed Julia Gardiner at the Church of the Ascension on 5th Avenue &amp; 10th Street.&nbsp; Some worked here.&nbsp; Chester Arthur practiced law in New York ﬁrst before he was appointed the Collector of the Port of New York, a position which actually paid more than the presidency. Some received medical care here.&nbsp; Grover Cleveland was operated on for cancer of the jaw on a yacht oﬀ of Pier A. Some like Ulysses S Grant went bankrupt here. Some launched their candidacy here.&nbsp; Abraham Lincoln gave the famous speech at Cooper Union that launched his candidacy and sadly returned a few years later in a casket to City Hall to terminate it. The appropriate place to celebrate President’s Day is, of course, Federal Hall, our ﬁrst capital whose balcony was the site of Washington’s inauguration. &nbsp;

Federal Hall National Memorial on Presidents Day 2026.

The podcast tells the story of how the building was commissioned and shares a couple of stories about events at the Club as well as the zoning battle with the Fisher Brothers in the late 70's that netted them a $5 million fee.

Lever House considered the 1st modernist skyscraper in New York was commissioned by Charles Luckman who was President (and trained as an architect). &nbsp;Rather than make a wedding cake tower as the 1916 New York Zoning Code required for tall buildings, Gordon Bunshaft's act of genius was to set the the building back and only utilize a quarter of the available site area. &nbsp;Other Innovative features included the curtain wall, lack of retail on the ground floor, plaza art program and other employee amenities. &nbsp;It has been renovated several times (all by SOM).

Charles (Chuck) Schwam, Executive Director, The American Friends of Lafayette; National Sales Executive, Guernsey, Inc., speaking at ‘It Happened Here - 1700’s Symposium: The Path to Liberty’ on July 4, 2025

Naturalization Ceremony at Federal Hall

Presiding Judge

Moderator

Welcome

Speaker

THE EVENT

EVENT PHOTOS AND DRAWING

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